The Lost Testament

80

The moment the boot lid sprang up, hiding the man from his view, Bronson emerged from his hiding place and sprinted towards the parked car.

The man obviously heard his approach — he would have had to have been deaf not to have heard him — and stepped out from behind the car immediately.

But it made no difference. Bronson was running hard, the pistol clutched in his right hand, and at the moment the man emerged into view, he was on him. Bronson crashed into him, smashing his shoulder into the man’s chest and knocking him backwards onto the tarmac surface of the parking area.

His opponent was down, but not out, and Bronson couldn’t take any chances. He slammed the butt of the Beretta M92 into the side of the man’s head. Instantly, the figure went limp as unconsciousness claimed him.

Bronson stood up and looked all around, just in case someone else had followed the man out of the building, but there was nobody in sight, and the pedestrian door was still standing wide open.

Quickly, he bent down and searched the unconscious man. Any doubt he might have had that the man was an innocent employee of a blameless company was quickly dispelled when he discovered the leather shoulder holster he was wearing, and the Glock 17 that was tucked into it, plus two spare magazines, both fully charged. Getting it off the man was awkward because he was a dead weight, but inside a couple of minutes Bronson was able to pull the holster over his shoulders, attaching its base loop to his own belt and shrugging on his jacket over the top of it. He checked the Glock was loaded, with a round in the chamber, and then replaced it in the holster.

He looked into the boot of the car and saw a couple of cardboard boxes inside it, the tops undone. One man carrying a cardboard box, Bronson realized, probably looks very similar to any other man carrying a cardboard box.

He leaned forward, picked up one of the boxes and turned it upside down. A number of anonymous brown-wrapped packages cascaded down from it into the boot. He pushed the boot lid closed, placed the box on the roof of the car, then reached down and dragged the unconscious man alongside the vehicle so that he would be completely hidden from the view of anybody looking out of the building.

Then he picked up the cardboard box, holding it in his left hand, supporting its underside with his right forearm, which meant that the bulk of the empty box completely concealed the Beretta pistol he was holding in his right hand.

He took a final glance around, then strode confidently across the parking area to the pedestrian door.